BASEBALL: NOTEBOOK

BASEBALL: NOTEBOOK; Lockout Lessens Clubs' Ability to Rate Players

By MURRAY CHASS

Published: February 18, 1990

If spring training had started on time the other day, if players were running around fields in bright sunshine in Arizona and Florida, some of them would be finding out just how far they have come back from serious injuries and, in many instances, surgery. More important to their teams, managers would be learning where the players are and how far they had to go before the season starts.

Some teams have enough of those players that the more spring training shrinks, the more serious their potential problems become. The returning injured will have less time to get themselves into in-season shape, the managers will have less time to determine who will be ready for the start of the season and the general managers will have less time to trade for players to fill holes created because injured players aren't ready.

The teams seemingly most at risk in this regard are Los Angeles, Cincinnati and St. Louis in the National League and Milwaukee in the American.

The Dodgers have two-thirds - or two-fourths, depending on developments - of their outfield coming back from surgery. Kirk Gibson, whose season ended after 71 games, had surgery on his left leg, specifically the hamstring in the knee area. Kal Daniels had his fifth knee operation after playing only 11 games for the Dodgers.

Recent tests on the Cybex machines told the Dodgers that Gibson's hamstring was rated 100 percent for strength and the quadricep muscle area was at 90 percent. That sounds good, but even Gibson has said he'll have to wait and see how the leg reacts under the pressure of daily play.

Daniels also appears healthy. In fact, he was playing pickup basketball games until Fred Claire, the Dodgers' general manager, heard about it and told Daniels to cease and desist.

Knowing the baseball-playing status of the two players is important for the Dodgers because it could affect their defensive alignment. If Gibson and Daniels are both healthy, the Dodgers could decide to take Hubie Brooks out of right field and move him to third base, where he used to play. That would put Jeff Hamilton out of a job.

Then, too, if both are healthy, the Dodgers could consider moving Juan Samuel, who doesn't want to play center field, back to second base and trade Willie Randolph. But the Dodgers won't be able to act on those possible moves until they find out about Gibson and Daniels, and they can't find out about Gibson and Daniels until sometime in spring training, which hasn't begun.

The Dodgers also have Jim Gott, a relief pitcher they signed as a free agent, coming off elbow surgery that knocked him out of all of last season except one game, and Alfredo Griffin, their shortstop, recovering from surgery on his left shoulder.

Inspection Time for Piniella

The Reds have two starting pitchers and the left side of their infield returning from disabling injuries. They expect Danny Jackson, Jose Rijo, Barry Larkin and Chris Sabo to be ready to go at full speed from the start of spring training, but Lou Piniella, their new manager, would feel much better if he could see that for himself.

Jackson, who last pitched in a game last July 23, had shoulder surgery eight days later and a toe operation at the end of the season. Rijo's season was ended six days before Jackson's because of a lower back ailment.

Larkin, the shortstop, was leading the league in hitting when a torn elbow ligament knocked him out in July. He returned in September but only for pinch-hitting purposes. Chris Sabo, his neighbor at third base, had knee surgery Sept. 23.

Pitchers are perhaps the most difficult to judge when returning from serious injuries, and they usually need more time than other players to prove to themselves and their managers that they are ready. That's why the Cardinals could face more serious problems than most with a shrunken spring.

Danny Cox and Greg Mathews, who would be two of the team's starters if healthy, had elbow surgery last season. Todd Worrell, the team's No. 1 reliever, joined them in December when Dr. Frank Jobe, the Los Angeles orthopedist, did a similar ligament transplant.

John Tudor, who has returned to St. Louis as a free agent, had the same operation in October 1988, and pitched only six games in relief toward the end of last season. Tudor, at that time, also had surgery on his left shoulder and had bone screws removed from his right tibia, which he had broken in 1987.

The Cardinals are counting on neither Cox nor Mathews for the rotation at the start of the season. If they show they are ready, the Cardinals will consider them a plus. They feel pretty much the same about Tudor, though he would seem to be ahead of the other two because he did pitch at the end of last season. The team reports that all three pitchers say they are ready to begin spring training. They did not, however, provide a money-back guarantee on their assessment.

Worrell, on the other hand, is not ready. The most optimistic outlook has him ready by early July, so a delayed spring training shouldn't affect him significantly.